The Evacuee
by Alana Quinn
Summary: AU! The second world war is just about to start and Heero finds himself being evacuated to the country, where he meets...gee, can you guess? 1-2-1 shounen-ai, maybe 1x2x1 later.
1. Evacuation

                                                                **The Evacuee**

A/N: This is my first Gundam Wing fanfic, so be gentle. Teehee. It may seem awfully similar to Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Margorian and that's because ever since I read that book, back when I was twelve, I wanted to write something similar. So it's taken me six years to do it, but hey, better late then never. It is very AU. Basically the pilot's histories are changed around. Heero has an English mother and a Japanese father, etc. This is all very essential for my plot line. So you'll have to bear with me. Apart from that, read and enjoy (hopefully).

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters and I'm making no money from doing this. It's just for my own enjoyment.  

**                                         Chapter 1: Evacuation **

_September 2nd, 1939._

Heero fiddled distractedly with the cardboard tag, hung loosely with a piece of string around his neck. The tag which identified him as being Heero Yuy, aged twelve, and belonging to St. John's Grammar School. 

He looked up at his parents. They were both standing a little way off, conversing quietly to each other. His father looked like he was reassuring his mother somehow, and she looked close to tears. 

He turned his head away from his parents and gazed up at the brightening sky instead. Apart from a few wispy clouds, the sky was a clear blue, with the sun getting gradually higher in the sky. The beginnings of autumn had brought in the colder weather and, as far as Heero was concerned, this was the coldest September day ever.

Just when he was beginning to lose hope, the bus they had been waiting for pulled up in front of where his parents stood. He picked up his suitcase and walked quickly up to the open door and just heard his father ask for three tickets to the train station, before he stepped onto the bus and followed his parents to the back of the large vehicle. 

Heero sat on the worn-out bus seat and gazed out of the window. The area of London he knew best flashed past in a blur, as the bus trundled on towards the train station. He traced a finger down the window, causing an annoying squeaking sound, but soon stopped when his father glared at him. 

The London bus finally pulled up outside the train station and Heero followed his parents back down to the front of the bus and out into the fresh air once more. The first thing he clapped eyes on was a newspaper headline, displayed on a news board. 

               **_Germany invades Poland: War imminent_**

He read the headline a couple of times even though he knew enough about it already. That headline was the reason he and his parents were on the way to the train station. He was being evacuated. 

Every child in London between the ages of two and fourteen were being evacuated to the country. As soon as news about Germany's invasion of Poland had reached the British Government, the urgent call for evacuation had come out. So here he was, walking onto the platform, ready to be evacuated to safety. 

The platform was alive with children. A mixture from his school and perhaps two others. The various teachers from each school were trying to call order but with little success. 

Heero was scanning the crowds, his blue eyes searching intently for someone. He barely even heard his mother say she would register him to his head teacher, due to his frantic searching.

He was still looking when there was a tap on his shoulder. He spun around and came face to shoulder with a middle-aged woman. She had dark, brown hair, which was greying slightly, tied in a bun, which hang loosely at the nape of her neck, and hazel eyes, which seemed to bear the weight of the world in them. 

        "Mrs Barnes?" Heero said, lifting his eyes to meet her's. "Where's Michael?"

She let his question linger for a moment, while she pulled a piece of folded paper out of her handbag. 

        "I'm afraid he's much too poorly to be evacuated with you, Heero dear." She replied softly. "He did want me to give you this though, but he asked me to tell you not to open it until you were on the train. So that you had something to do on the journey."

She handed over the folded piece of paper. Heero clutched onto it for dear life and mumbled a quick thank you, before spinning rapidly on his heel and hurrying as fast as he could back to his parents. 

Mrs Yuy looked like she had gotten a bit more used to the idea of her son going away as she stood calmly next to her husband. Heero stopped running and approached his parents at a much more sedate pace, unsure as to what exactly he wanted to say to them. 

        "Michael's not going."

Heero surprised himself with his choice of words. They just seemed to roll off his tongue automatically. 

        "That's a shame, dear." 

Heero was even more shocked at his mother's reply. It was like she was reading from a script. There didn't seem to be any emotion behind her words at all. What was even worse was that his father just stood there, not uttering a word or showing any sort of emotions in his facial expressions. 

       "Well, goodbye then." Heero let out a small sigh as he spoke, wondering why his parents were being so frosty with him. 

       "Goodbye, son."

Mr Yuy spoke in a business-like voice and held his hand out.  Heero stared incredously at him. 

       'A handshake? I knew my dad was formal but this is ridiculous.' 

He clasped hold of his father's hand and gave the firm handshake he had been taught when he was younger. Mr Yuy kept a completely indifferent expression throughout. Heero frowned slightly before turning to his mother. She seemed to have a bit more emotion in her eyes now. 

       "Goodbye, Heero. Take good care of yourself and make sure you write to us." Her voice cracked a little as the emotion she had been bottling up threatening to break out. Heero couldn't help but smirk a little. 'So she was trying to keep her emotions under check then.'

He let himself be taken into a tight embrace; the wool on her sweater tickling his nose, before he pulled away, barely looking at his mother as he blinked back tears that threatened to spill out.

       "St. John's Grammar, Year 8."

Heero heard the call of his headmaster, took one last glance at his parents, and walked quickly away, towards the carriage his headmaster was standing next too.

The inside of the carriage wasn't as big as he thought it would be. The seats were worn-out, like the ones on the bus had been, and they're was a strange, musty smell filling the air. 

      "Hurry up and find a seat. Don't just stand there, Yuy."

Heero mumbled a 'sorry, sir' to his teacher and quickly dropped into a vacant seat by the window. He shut his eyes, trying to block out everyone and everything around him. The thought of not knowing where he was going was really starting to bug him. He liked to know details in advance. He didn't like surprises.

When the train had finally left the station and the noise had subsided slightly, Heero opened his eyes. He gazed around at the packed full carriage, filled with all the children from his class and the class below, except Michael that is. 

He suddenly remembered the folded piece of paper he still held tightly in his hand. He carefully unfolded it and started to read the neatly written note.

              _Hello Heero,_

_                   I can't believe you get to go off on some big adventure_

_              and I have to stay here in boring old London. I wish I was _

_              going too but the doctor said that I wasn't well enough. _

_              I'll miss you a lot. Make sure you come back soon, okay? _

_              I don't know what I'll do with myself while you're gone._

_                    From your best friend,_

_                            Michael._

Heero reread his friend's note a couple of times, marvelling at Michael's way of dismissing his illness and instead showing envy at Heero's 'big adventure'. Michael knew as well as he did, that his illness was getting worse, not better. Ever since he had contracted tuberculosis a year ago, his condition had been deteriating. The doctors just didn't have anything they could give him to cure it. 

Heero was brought out of his musings by a paper aeroplane hitting the side of his head. He looked over at the direction it had flown from and scowled when he saw the four boys sitting there, laughing their heads off. 

       "Nice shot, Johnny. You hit the freak right above the ear."

Heero's scowl hardened as the boys congratulated each other and laughed even harder. Michael's soft voice popped into his head as he fought with his conscious over what he should do. 

         _"Don't give them the satisfaction, Heero. They're just provoking you so that you retaliate and then get yourself in trouble."_

Heero smiled at the memorable speech Michael always gave him whenever these boys started picking on them. He always knows what to do in any sort of situation. 

        "Yuy's smiling at something. We better wipe that off his face right now." 

The speaker, Johnny, got up from his seat and walked towards Heero. Heero just sat back, his eyes shut once more. Johnny drew his right arm back, balling his hand into a fist. 

       "Look at me when I hit you, freak!" Johnny shouted, before thrusting his fist forward. 

       "Jonathon Daniels! What do you think you're doing?"

Johnny's arm froze mid-swing upon the sound of a very irate headmaster. Heero opened his eyes and gazed calmly up at the other boy and the head teacher.

       "Um...nothing, sir. I was just talking to Heero."

Johnny made a pathetic attempt to cover his tracks, but the headmaster was no fool. 

       "You know I don't tolerate talking with fists. Please take your seat and stop bullying your classmates."

Johnny grumbled under his breath as he sat back down. 

The headmaster then addressed all of the children in the carriage. 

        "I don't want anyone else leaving they're seats for the rest of the journey without asking permission from me. Is that understood?"

A chorus of 'yes, sir' from all of the eleven and twelve year olds met his stern command.

Heero let out a low sigh and stared dully out of the window, watching the outside world flash by, as the houses and factories changed into never-ending fields and trees, which were already starting to feel the bite of autumn. 

After a relatively short journey, compared to what he had expected, the train grinded to a halt. Heero peered out of the window, searching for any signs, which might indicate where they were. He was in luck. A sign, located on the wall of the platform, read

                       HASTINGS TRAIN STATION

'Hastings? I would have thought we would have been moved further away from London than this.' 

He was ushered off the train, along with all the other children. They all lined up on the platform and answered with a 'yes, sir' when they're name was called out on the register. They then were split up into two groups. One group walking one way, the other group walked the opposite way. 

Walking along next to a boy who was probably slightly younger than him, Heero looked around eagerly at his surroundings, half carrying, and half dragging his bulky suitcase. They walked for roughly fifteen minutes, before they arrived at a building that bared the words TOWN HALL on the front. 

Once they had been lead inside, Heero stared around at the interior of the building. From what he could tell, he was standing in the main part of the building and they're were two rooms leading off from it at the back. The ceiling was quite high, maybe three metres and the room itself was a long rectangular shape. 

All of the children were asked to sit cross-legged on the floor, towards the back of the room. A stern looking woman marched importantly over to stand in front of them all. She was quite stout with brown hair, which was twisted tightly in a bun. She had sharply defined features and wore spectacles, which clung to the tip of her nose. 

        "I'm the billeting officer for this area. Very shortly you will be picked out by the townsfolk from this area. I would like you all to sit quietly while the billeting process is carried out."

All the children sat and waited, like they were asked to, some of the younger ones fidgeting irritably. After about five minutes, the townsfolk started to filter through the double doors. Some looked reluctant to be there, others looked rather pleased, but most held a great deal of pity in they're eyes for these city children. 

Heero sat back and watched as the hall gradually emptied. The children were picked out like loaves of bread; the townsfolk either sizing them up or simple stating that they wanted 'two girls' or 'one girl and one boy', and so it went on. 

Soon they're was only him, a boy of about nine or ten, and a girl of about thirteen left sitting on the floor.

A young to middle aged woman then burst through the double doors. She had long, chestnut coloured hair, which was swept over her shoulders and fell loosely down to the small of her back. Her eyes sparkled a violet-blue colour, causing Heero to shiver a bit at they're sheer intensity. 

        "I'm not too late am I?"

Her voice was slightly harassed as she addressed the billeting officer. 

       "Not at all." There are three children still to be housed. 

The billeting officer nodded her head in the direction of the three-seated children as she spoke. Her voice carried a certain tiredness from the strain of the billeting process. 

        "Oh, thank goodness. I did want to do my bit for the war effort." The lively eyed woman said, staring keenly at the three children. 

She walked over to them and inspected the tags around they're necks. After carefully scrutinizing the three she pointed at Heero. 

       "I'd like to have this one. He's the same age as my son. So hopefully they'll get on well together."

Heero glanced up at the woman who had picked him out. Her sparkling eyes drew most of his attention. They seemed so entrancing. 

       "That's fine." The billeting officer said, wearily. "Just sign this form and write down you're name and address, please."

While his new guardian proceeded with the formalities, Heero climbed to his feet and wondered what her son would be like.

Once she was done, she told Heero to come with her. He followed her out of the double doors, into the fresh, September air. 

        "Heero..." She said, reading off his tag again. "I'm Rosie Maxwell, please just call me Rosie. We are heading back to the house now, where you will meet my husband and my son. I hope you will be happy while you stay with us."

Heero gave her an acknowledging nod of his head, while he struggled on beside her with his bulky suitcase. 

End chapter.

Well, there's the first chapter. Hopefully you won't have to wait too long for the next one. I'll have to see how my college work goes. Please leave a review because it would be very appreciated. 

Alana ^_^       ****


	2. Seaview farm

A/N: Well, I have to say a huge 'wow'! I never expected so many reviews for my first chapter. So big thank you's are due to Some_Ugly_Girl, dark cloud, Virginie, Natea, FucK wAR, Cherrii, Galyn, Mariana1, vicky, and Star Dragonsong. Thanks so much, guys. I can't tell you how much the reviews meant to me. 

I also want to say that you should scrap what I said in my last author note about Heero's dad being Japanese, because I'm now making it so that Heero's granddad is Japanese, making Heero only a quarter Japanese. Like I said before, this is all very essential to my storyline. Other than that read and enjoy. It's an extra long chappie, so hopefully you'll like it. ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't and unfortunately never will own Gundam Wing or its characters. I'm making absolutely no money out of this story. 

                                                       **Chapter 2: Seaview farm**

As they walked, the smell of salty sea air filled Heero's senses. 

        'I knew Hastings was a seaside town but I didn't realise I was this close to the sea.' Heero thought to himself, again trying to sort out his bearings. 

       "We're here." Rosie said, bringing Heero out of his musings. 

Heero looked up and saw a large, white thatched roof. It was surrounded by several fields and a couple of barns and sheds. 

        'A farm!?'

Rosie pushed the front gate open and motioned for Heero to follow her through the gateway. He did so, still staring at the large farmhouse, which was so different from home. 

The front door of the house was in a stable door type fashion. Heero stared with some interest at the way the two parts of the door swung away from the frame as Rosie pulled it open; ready to admit the two of them. 

        "Joe! Duo! I'm back! Come and meet our London boy." Rosie yelled at the top of her lungs as she walked over the threshold of the house. 

Heero shrunk back a bit from the sheer volume of her voice, but soon followed her into the house. The room he was standing in was your usual sort of cloakroom type place. There were coats hung up on pegs in one corner of the room, with shoes and boots neatly stacked underneath in a shoe rack. There wasn't much else in the small entrance hall, apart from the bottom of the wooden staircase and the two doors leading off to other parts of the house.

The sound of footsteps padding rapidly across the floor upstairs told Heero that someone was on their way down. 

        "I'm coming, mum! Dad's not here though. He had to go see to Cop's bad leg, out in the far field."

The shout downstairs, which easily matched Rosie's vocals for volume, was followed by the sound of boot-clad feet descending the stairs at an alarming rate.

Heero watched as a boy, possibly slightly taller than himself, jumped the last four stairs and landed gracefully in a crouching position at Rosie's feet.

        "Honestly, Duo. What have I told you about running in the house?" Rosie scolded with no real conviction in her voice and a knowing smile, which added an extra glint in her already gleaming eyes. 

Duo grinned sheepishly at his mother, before turning to look at Heero. Heero immediately tensed up, not one for making friends easily and not sure whether he actually wanted to make friends with this boy. 

He stared hard at the boy, taking in the long, chestnut braid, the violet-blue eyes which matched his mother's exactly, the impish face which screamed mischief and the mud streak reaching from the bridge of his nose right down to his left cheek bone. The boy wore shabby-looking dungarees, which ended at his knees, with no shirt underneath, leaving Heero to wonder how the boy could possibly be warm enough this cold September day. He had green wellington boots on his feet, and mud-streaked arms and knees. 

        "Hello. I'm Duo. Pleased to meet you."

He put on a half convincing North London accent and wore a lopsided grin as he spoke. He held out his hand and his cheeky grin widened. 

Heero stared in horror at this extroverted boy. He was the complete opposite of Michael, who was quiet, neat and tidy, very levelheaded, and careful with what he said. This boy was so unbelievably shameless. He looked desperately for Rosie but she had wandered off somewhere, leaving Heero in the hands of this strange boy.     

Duo stared at the London boy standing in front of him, with his hand still out-stretched for the handshake greeting. He had slightly darker hair than his own with a fringe that sat untidily, cut so that it fell just above his eyes. His eyes were a startling blue but didn't seem as full of life as they should have been. He wore what looked like his school uniform; white shirt, navy blue jumper, grey shorts and socks, and black sturdy shoes on his feet. 

        "What's your name, kid?" Duo asked, now withdrawing his hand and giving Heero a slightly confused look.

       'I guess I better say something.' Heero thought, giving the boy another calculating look. 

       "Heero Yuy."

Duo shivered slightly at the severe tone the boy used. It was barely audible, being just above a whisper, and it seemed to have a certain amount of discipline in it. Duo, however, was not one to back away from making new friends and retained his cheeky grin. 

        "Welcome to Seaview farm, Heero. I'll give you the grand tour." 

With that boldly spoken, Duo grasped one of Heero's wrists and dragged him through the door at the side of the room, eager to show him round the rest of the house and the farm. 

The room they entered was unmistakably the main living room. There was a window at the front of the room, giving a view of the front garden and beyond. A large fireplace covered a good portion of the wall directly opposite the door. An old, comfy-looking chair took up the position closest to the fireplace and a double-seated sofa was next to that. The floor was carpeted with a thin, grey carpet, with an extra rug laid out in front of the fireplace. 

        "This is the front room, where we all congregate in the winter because of the fire." Duo said, giving a half chuckle and mentally congratulating himself on using a big word. 

Heero gazed around the room but said nothing as he took in the layout and colours of the room. Duo clucked his tongue impatiently and grabbed Heero's wrist again.

        "Come on, Heero. There's loads more to see."

Heero was dragged out of the room, back through the entrance hall, and then through the other door, leading into the back of the house. 

The next room they came to was the kitchen. It was a large room, as was accustomed in most farmhouses. There was a well-used aga on one side of the room, a large refrigerator in another corner, and a sink unit at the far end, which had some surface area surrounding it. Storage cupboards were underneath the sink and surface areas. In the middle of the room was a large, wooden, rectangular dining table. 

        "This is the kitchen." Duo stated the obvious, putting a lot of extravagance into sweeping his arms around the room. 

Heero gave a very slight nod in acknowledgement, looking in silent awe at the large kitchen, before his wrist was grabbed yet again and he was dragged off through another door. 

Heero found himself in a room that contained a big, tin bath, a basket crammed full with dirty washing, a clothes line, a door leading outside and a door leading off to another room. 

        "That's granddad's room." Duo said, gesturing towards the door at the far end of the room. "He's quite old and doesn't venture out much but when he does he usually just sits in his old chair by the fire, smoking his pipe." 

Heero only half took in what his companion was telling him as he stared eagerly out of the window-panelled back door. 

       "You wanna see the farm?" Duo asked cheerily, picking up on where the city boy's attention lay. 

Without waiting for any sort of answer, Duo grabbed Heero's wrist yet again and pulled the back door open. He walked out at a very brisk pace, dragging the slightly smaller boy behind him. 

They had walked for no longer than a minute when a fairly large border collie dog bounded towards them, its tale wagging nineteen to the dozen. It jumped straight at Duo, knocking the boy, flat on his back, to the floor and started to lick his face all over.

        "Hahaha…Jess…stop it…it tickles!" Duo managed to gasp out despite having the wind knocked out of him from her powerful paws.       

Duo finally managed to persuade the dog to let him get back to his feet. He then proceeded to dust himself down and clean as much slobber off his face as possible. When he had done this to a degree he was satisfied with, he turned to the dog and grinned. 

        "Jess, say hello to Heero. He's gonna be staying with us for a while."

Heero watched the black and white dog sit, her head cocked to one side, and tail still wagging at a tremendous rate, as if she was taking in every word Duo said to her. She then got up, turned round, and raised her paw up, gently, to Heero. Duo chuckled when the boy from London let out a shocked gasp. 

         "I trained her myself." He stated proudly, as he leaned forward and patted the dog affectionately on the top of her head.

As soon as Duo spoke though, Heero seemed to have lost interest as he was staring into space again, seeming to be lost in a world of his own. Duo snapped his fingers in front of the boy's face, determined to show him round the whole of the farm before teatime. Heero jumped at the sound but quickly composed himself again and allowed himself to be dragged off towards the barn. 

By the time they reached the far field with the stables attached it was five thirty, nearly teatime. Duo had shown Heero the pigs, the chickens, turkeys, cockerels, and ducks, the cows and the tractor, at which he proudly proclaimed that they had enough fuel to last them for a while should the war bring in fuel shortages. The strong animal stench was overwhelming Heero a bit but the stubborn boy didn't let it show one bit. 

        "Duo, is that you?" 

        "Yeah. Hi dad." Duo answered the deep voice as he entered the stable, dragging Heero behind him. "Are you still fixing up Copper's leg?"

        "Yes. She's been suffering a lot with it. I'm going to have to leave her in here until its fully healed." Duo's dad explained, his back to the boys as he was comforting the chestnut-coloured mare.

        "Dad, our evacuee is here." Duo pulled Heero up next to him as he spoke, a big grin plastered across his face.

Heero scowled at the indignity of being pulled around and being referred to as if he was their personal property. He soon made his expression neutral again when the farmer turned around, remembering the promise he had made to his parents about being good and not upsetting his temporary guardians. 

        "Welcome...Heero." The farmer said, reading hurriedly off the boy's cardboard tag. "I'm Joe, Duo's dad. I hope he's been looking after you well." 

Joe smiled kindly at Heero, who gave a small nod in the tall man's direction. He had the same chestnut hair as Rosie and Duo but it was cut quite short and most of it was hidden under his flat cap. His eyes were a dull bluey grey colour, but that was probably one of the only differences between father and son, except maybe the height. Heero couldn't believe that Duo would ever grow as tall as his dad, who was probably six feet tall.

       "Anyway, you kids better go back to the house and clean up for dinner, especially you Duo." Joe said, taking in Duo's muddy face, arms and knees. 

       "Hey! What are you implying?" Duo asked in a mock-hurt voice, his eyes sparkling in amusement.   

Joe chuckled. "Tell your mother that I'll be along shortly." He added, ruffling Duo's hair.

       "Don't touch the hair, dad!" Duo said, his voice a bit more serious this time.

The two boys left the stable with Joe's amused laughter following them out.

      'They have such a light-hearted relationship. It's more like a friendship rather than father and son.' Heero's thoughts were wistful but he quickly checked himself. His own father acted the way he did for Heero's own good. He knew that and just had to accept it. 

When they got back to the house Rosie was bustling about in the kitchen, happily humming to herself.

        "Go on upstairs and clean up, you two. Dinner's nearly ready." Rosie instructed the two boys, without even lifting her head from what she was doing. 

        "Okay mum." Duo replied, his voice still very cheery. 

Heero had managed to keep his wrist to himself as the two boys ascended the wooden staircase, with Duo virtually galloping up the stairs and talking non-stop.

        "Mum's home-cooked meals are the best, Heero. You're gonna love them. She should have left us a bowl of hot, soapy water in my room so we can clean up. You're sharing a room with me. That's okay, right? I mean it is a big room an' all."

Heero stared in amazement at the boy's back. 'Does he ever stop talking!?'

They entered the room, which was the second on the left from the top of the stairs; they're being two other rooms on this floor. The dull sunlight shined through the decent sized window, illuminating the two beds lined up against opposite walls with roughly another space in between them for another similar sized bed. There was a chest of drawers in the corner furthest from the door, and a small desk with a chair pushed under it in the corner opposite the door. 

The predicted bowl of water sat in the middle of the space between the two beds. A fresh towel was laid out beside the bowl. 

         "You can go first." Duo offered graciously. "Your hands are nowhere near as dirty as mine." He added, closely inspecting his muddy hands and arms with an amused grin on his face. 

Heero couldn't help but smile slightly at the boy's unselfish thinking as he moved himself over to the washing-up sized bowl. He plunged his hands into the warm, soapy water, rubbing them gently together, cleaning them thoroughly, half listening to the incessant chatter from the braided boy. 

        "...The sea is amazingly beautiful when the moon is at it's fullest. You're gonna love it!" 

Duo finally stopped talking when he thought Heero wasn't listening anymore. 

       "Um...sorry. I do tend to go on a bit." He apologised. "I personally blame my mum." He added with a devious grin, before walking towards the bowl upon seeing Heero had finished with it. 

Heero was finding it hard to not warm to the boy even though he had decided he didn't want to befriend him because he was so different to himself and he didn't like befriending people too easily anyway. 

When Duo had finally washed all the mud off his arms and legs and at least had a good go with the streak across his face, he jumped back up to his feet, grabbed Heero's wrist again and dragged the boy back down the stairs. 

        "Duo, did you bring the bowl down?" Rosie asked, shouting from the kitchen as the boys made they're way through the hall.

        "I'll bring it down after dinner, mum." Duo replied, pulling Heero into the kitchen.

       "That boy! Thinks of nothing but his stomach." Rosie thought out loud in an exasperated tone.

Duo chose to ignore his mother's comment and sat down at the table, gesturing for Heero to sit next to him. Heero took his seat and stared at the large table, filled with steaming hot dishes. Roast pork, roast potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and garden peas all adorned the tabletop. Rosie came across, carrying a jug of onion gravy.

         "I hope you like pork, Heero." She said in a cheery voice that rivaled Duo's. 

         "Um...thank you." Heero nodded, looking again at the huge amounts of food. 'Are four people really going to get through all of this?' He thought with trepidation, forgetting the fifth person in the house.

Duo stared at the city kid in interest. 'That's only the second time he's spoken since he got here and what a difference from when he gave me his name. He sounded really...nervous.'

Duo's quiet thoughts didn't last for very long as Joe got back from the stable and started to carve the pork up, causing Duo to start 'oohing and ahing' over the prospect of a beautifully cooked roast dinner. 

As the meal progressed, Heero couldn't believe the amount of food these people were putting away and yet none of them were visibly overweight. He himself hardly ate a thing. This wasn't unusual. All his life he had had a small appetite, and nothing had changed now. 

        "Heero, are you sure you've had enough?" Rosie asked, looking anxiously at the pale child. 

       "Yes. Thank you." Heero said, gazing up at the concerned woman.

      'They did say that the evacuees might need time to adjust. I'll let him eat a meager amount, for now anyway.' Rosie thought while giving Heero another Maxwell trait smile.

Heero and Duo helped clear up after dinner and then they went to take Heero's suitcase upstairs. Duo picked up the brown, standard-sized case and groaned. 

        "What have ya got in here!? It's killing me arms." 

Heero smirked at the slight exaggeration in the farmer's son's voice, knowing fully well the boy was easily strong enough to lift the suitcase reasonably comfortably. 

They ascended the stairs; Heero trailing behind as he tried to gather his thoughts together. 

        'He just seems to have such an infectious personality but I know befriending him would be a bad idea.  Anyone I get close to seems to either reject me or have something bad happen to them. I thought I'd finally found a friend for life in Michael but then he got ill and is probably going to die.'  

Duo placed the suitcase on the bed nearest the door and then picked up the bowl containing the now dirty and cold water. 

       "I'm just gonna take this down stairs to the kitchen. You can sort your stuff out. I put your case on the bed you're gonna be sleeping in." Duo spoke at a much more sedate pace, seeming to have calmed down and possibly tired from the busy afternoon they'd had. 

Heero stood still and watched Duo walk slowly out the door, balancing the bowl of water carefully so he didn't spill any. As soon as the farmer's son had disappeared down the stairs, Heero walked slowly over to his appointed bed. It was you're standard sized, single bed, with clean, white sheets and a patterned duvet and pillow.

Heero opened up his case and looked at the clothes he and his mother had packed in there last night. The past few hours suddenly seemed like a dream. It was like he was back at home again, not in some strange farmhouse in the countryside. He blinked back a tear that was threatening to spill out from the corner of his eye. 

        'I won't cry! Only little kids get homesick. I'm not homesick!'

Heero's thoughts didn't really convince him but his determination stopped anymore threatening tears from forming.

Before Heero had a chance to really sort through any of his belongings, Duo came bounding back in the room with a large, black, rectangular piece of material in his hands. 

       "Mum told me to put the black out up just incase anything happens before war is officially declared." The farmer's son explained excitably.

Heero just stared at the boy, wondering how he could get excited about the imminent war. He shrugged it off and watched with a little interest and a little amusement at Duo's struggle to hang the black out up in the window. 

Duo finally got the black out up and wandered off downstairs again to get a gas lamp so they could see what they were doing. Heero searched through his case, in the half-light, for his pajamas. When he finally found them he struggled out of his school uniform and into his pajamas, managing to stub his toe on the side of the bed at the same time. 

       "Hey, are you alright? I heard you cry out. Did you hurt yourself?" Duo asked, rushing back in the room, gas lamp in hand. 

Heero was hopping around, his right foot grasped in his hand, and his pajama top only half pulled over his head. Duo couldn't help but laugh at the scene in front of him, as the city boy continued to curse under his breath. 

Heero eventually stopped hopping and pulled his top on properly, giving Duo a death glare at the same time. He then moved his suitcase on the floor and climbed into bed, pulling a book out of his bag as he did so. 

        "So I guess you're still not gonna talk to me." Duo said, looking rather forlornly in Heero's direction, before letting out a small sigh and placing the lamp on the desk. 

Heero opened his book, ignoring the braided boy. Feeling less like talking than usual. Duo sighed again and walked over to his own bed, where his pajamas were neatly folded up under his pillow. He quickly changed into them, took another quick peek in Heero's direction, and then climbed into bed. He wasn't really tired yet but he didn't feel like reading so he curled up into a ball under the covers.

        "Night, Heero." He whispered, more to himself than to the other boy.

Behind his book, Heero smiled a sad smile, before he continued reading his book. 

End chapter.    

Well, that's it for chapter 2. I hope you liked it and that I didn't confuse you too much. Please leave your comments in a review and I'll try my hardest to update soon.

Lol.

Alana^_^ 


	3. War Declared

A/N: Okay, this chapter took a lot longer for me to complete than I thought it would. I

         just found my motivation was lacking due to Christmas time and stuff. Plus the

         dreaded thing known as coursework. Anyways, that aside, First off I want to thank

         Natea, my newly-acquired beta reader. Thanks for betaing this chap for me. It's a

         great help ^_^.

         Next, a big thank you to all those who left me lovely reviews. Thanks go to

         Mariana1, Natea, Dalamar the Dark, cryearthstearsfalltou, Yume Maxwell-Yuy, 

         Curious Dream Weaver, mysticheero, Star Dragonsong, Vicky, chibi-chan, and

         holly. All the reviews mean a lot to me. *Hands out Jaffa cakes* 

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, 'cept just recently I obtained possession of Wing Zero, 

                   but since its made out of plastic and only a few inches tall, I don't think it 

                   counts. 

                                                            **Chapter 3: War declared**

_September 3rd, 1939._

Heero had stayed up reading his book until Rosie come in to say goodnight and turn out the gas lamp. Duo had fallen asleep well before Rosie had come up, so Heero had lain awake, staring into the darkness, listening to the other boy's regular breathing and trying to coax himself into falling asleep. He usually slept reasonably well but the unfamiliar bed and surroundings were affecting him quite badly. 

He had eventually fallen into a restless sleep; thoughts about his parents, Michael, his London home and Duo were all churned over, but now he was awake again. The sun had only just risen and when he glanced over he could see that Duo was still sound asleep.

     'The sun's shining through? Rosie must have taken the black out down. Funny, I can't remember her taking it down.' Heero thought, scrunching his forehead up trying to remember, before sighing in defeat and glancing back over at the sleeping boy again.

Duo was curled up in a tight ball underneath the bedcovers, facing outwards towards Heero. His braid was lying on top of the covers and he had one arm clung tightly around a chocolate-coloured teddy bear and the other arm dangling down the side of the bed.

      'He looks so calm in sleep. Shame he can't be more like that when he's awake.' Heero thought, before turning his attention to the book he had put on the floor last night.

He carefully picked the book up off the floor, not wanting to lose his page, and continued reading from where he had left off last night.

Duo finally began to stir a little while later, breakfast smells sifting into the room and occupying his immediate air space. 

      "Mmm...smells like bacon." Duo mumbled, only half awake.

Heero poked his head out from behind his book, startled by the other boy's voice, cutting into the quietness so suddenly. Duo still had his eyes closed and was still in the same position he had been in when Heero had woken up, but the farmer's son now had a goofy grin spread across his face. Heero smirked, remembering what Rosie had said about how Duo was always thinking about his stomach. Violet-blue eyes suddenly snapped open and, if it was even possible, the goofy grin widened. 

       "Breakfast time! My favourite time of the day." Duo shouted, jumping out of bed, pumping a fist in the air and losing his teddy on the floor, all in the same action.

Heero's smirk turned into an amused smile as he watched Duo bend over to pick up the unfortunate teddy bear.

       'He's so lively, even first thing in the morning.' Heero thought, while climbing slowly out of bed, carefully placing his book back on the floor.

Before Heero even had a chance to pull some clothes out of his case Duo grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the room. 

       "Breakfast first, get dressed later." Duo all but ordered, his grip tightening around Heero's arm in his enthusiasm to get down the stairs.   

They entered the kitchen, Duo's hand still clamped tightly around Heero's arm and an expectant grin plastered across his face as he looked eagerly at his mother. Rosie looked far from pleased with her son though. 

      "Stop dragging Heero around like a sack of potatoes." Rosie said, staring disapprovingly at Duo. "You'll scare the poor boy straight back to London, not to mention most likely suffering from a dead arm as well."

Duo carefully extracted his fingers from the other boy's arm and looked apologetically at his mother.

      "Sorry mum. I won't do it again." He said, his voice matching his forlorn expression.

      "Too right you won't. Now go and lay the table, please." Rosie said, her voice only softening slightly. 

Heero watched on in shock, taken aback by Rosie's sudden display of strictness towards her son. Rosie turned back to the sizzling bacon muttering irritably about having to suffer every month and still being expected to carry on as normal. Heero, at that point, guessed the cause of her mood swing having heard the same thing from his own mother and quickly walked over to help Duo lay the table. 

Duo gladly accepted Heero's help, thinking that the London kid was finally going to consent to friendship. 

       "Don't mind my mum, she gets like that once in a while."

       "DUO!"

       "Sorry mum." Duo said, although his grinning face betrayed the sincerity in his apology. "So...you think war's gonna be declared today?" The braided boy continued, changing topic without drawing breath.

Heero gave a nonchalant shrug, still bewildered about how Duo could be so enthusiastic about the thought of war. 

Despite being disappointed that he hadn't drawn speech from the other boy, Duo carried on talking cheerfully.

       "I overheard Mr Andrews, that's our vicar, say that he'd be setting up a wireless in the church this morning. So old Chamberlain must have something important to say today."

       "Oh yes, that reminds me, Duo. You're joining in with the choir this week _aren't_ you." Rosie said, her faint smile seeming slightly smug to Heero's eyes.

       "Oh mum, do I have to?" Duo whined in an obviously disgruntled tone.

       "Yes you do! You've been skipping out of it every week so far. I don't know why you bother going to the practices." Rosie said in exasperation.

       "So I don't get stuck helping you darn socks and the like." Duo muttered, while hastily placing the last knife down on the table.

Rosie laughed and Heero couldn't help but smirk at the farmer's son's obvious dilemma.

       "Is breakfast ready? I'm starving." Joe asked, as he walked through from the back door, having just been outside to check on the animals.     

Rosie answered by pushing a pile of plates into her husband's hands and gesturing for him to place them on the table.

       "Duo, could you take this through to your granddad, please?" Rosie asked, pushing a tray holding a plate full of eggs, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms and toast, and a glass of orange juice into her son's hands. 

Duo smiled sweetly at his mother before marching off towards his granddad's room, balancing the tray carefully in his hands. Heero's blue-eyed gaze, unseen by anyone, followed the braided boy's movements right to the door. 

Eventually the two adults and two children were seated around the table, tucking into the feast of a fried breakfast. The scene was very similar to that of the one at dinner the night before. The three Maxwell's were tucking into their portions quite happily, Duo managing to talk aplenty between each mouthful as well. Heero, however, pushed the food around his plate, eating the bare minimum and completely lost in thought. 

      'Duo's so openly friendly. Maybe I should be friends with him. Then again, he could just be putting on a show for his parents, but I doubt it. He's too happy-go-lucky though. He seems like the type of person who would do anything to skip out of academic work too. I can't let my work slip, father would go ballistic. I can't let that happen again.'

Heero gave an involuntary shudder following the last thought. Duo, despite being so busy eating, noticed first. 

       "Heero, are you okay?"

Heero quickly put his well-practiced emotionless mask back on and offered up a polite reply. 

       "I'm fine, thank you."

It was Duo's turn to shudder now, though not quite so visibly. 'How did he do that? One minute he looked terrified, the next totally calm and expressionless.'

The rest of the meal went relatively smoothly and after they had helped clear up, Heero and Duo went back upstairs to get dressed for church. 

        "Do you go to church every Sunday, back home?" Duo asked curiously, leading Heero up the stairs, this time refraining from grabbing his arm or wrist. 

        "Of course." Heero replied, using his oh so polite voice again. 

Duo remained uncharacteristically quiet while they picked their clothes out. He already had his shirt and trousers hung up on the front of his chest of drawers, so his eyes were flicking discreetly in Heero's direction.

The city kid had lifted his case onto his bed and was carefully taking out several folded up articles of clothing. Most of which were drab colours; browns, blacks, dark greens and blues. He eventually found what he was looking for and proceeded to put the unwanted clothing back in his case, just as neatly as before.

        'His movements are so...disciplined. I just chuck my stuff around but he's folding his clothes up and everything.' Duo thought, fingering the end of his braid distractedly. 

Heero started to change into his clothes and Duo took this as his cue to do the same, while still puzzling over the other boy's unearthly efficiency. 

Eventually both boys were ready and trundled back down the stairs. Rosie was waiting at the bottom, ready to give her before church neatness check. She gaped when she saw Heero. Apart from the unruly, dark hair, his appearance was completely immaculate. His white shirt and navy blue dress trousers were well pressed and his navy blue shoes were shining.

As she ran her eyes over Duo a stark contrast easily stood out. He had redone his braid but messily so, he still had a sliver of dried mud staining his cheek and he'd managed to crease his shirt already. Plus his shoes weren't polished very well either. To top the look off, Duo had his hands plunged nonchalantly into his trouser pockets.

        "You don't honestly expect to stand up at the front of the church looking like that, do you?" Rosie asked, giving her son one of her best-exasperated looks. 

Duo shrank back a little bit and subconsciously pulled his hands out of his pockets and started flattening creases out of his shirt with one hand and running the other through his messy braid.

Rosie quickly gained a 'mothers know best' look and magically pulled a hairbrush out from somewhere. She gestured for Duo to stand in front of her and, with a look of definite reluctance, he did so. She then began the mammoth job of unravelling her son's long braid, brushing through the loose chestnut locks, and then rebraiding it in a much neater fashion. 

Heero sat down on the bottom stair and was lost in thought once again as he stared at the scene in front of him.

       'Duo gets on with his mother the same as he does with his father. They seem to have this way of treating each other with mock humour. They're all so light-hearted. It's completely different to home. '

Heero gave an inaudible sigh and watched as Duo grumbled about his mother pulling his hair and Rosie countered by tapping the brush handle on his head and telling him he shouldn't let his hair get so tangled.

Eventually Duo's hair was braided neatly, his shoes were polished and the creases in his shirt were straightened out as best as could be done by hand. Then the three Maxwells and Heero were out of the door and walking down the road towards the church. 

The first thing Heero noticed was how much warmer it was today. Yesterday had been very cold for early September but today it felt like the middle of the summer again. It wasn't exactly the sort of weather you would have associated with a day that most likely was to mark the start of a second world war. 

It was a pleasant ten-minute walk to the church. Duo was looking more and more disgruntled by the minute. The prospect of having to actually join in with the choir looming closer and closer with each step he took. He actually envied Heero. A nice cushy seat towards the back of the church. Heero didn't have to stand up and sing in front of everyone. 

Duo suddenly gave an evil chuckle. 'I'll do everything possible to get Heero in the choir too. He won't be getting out of it if I have anything to do with it.'

With this thought in mind Duo's step picked up and he was back to his old perky self. Heero's step faltered slightly now, as he worried about what that strange look Duo had given him was all about.

Heero didn't worry on for very long because they soon reached the church's front gate. Joe swung it open and they all walked through into the pretty little churchyard. Despite the obviously depressing presence of the many headstones the churchyard could definitely be described as pretty. Many different coloured autumn flowers had poked up and were beautifully illuminated by the sun.

Mr Andrews, the vicar, stood just outside the church door greeting every member of the small community personally. He was decked out in full vicar's garb of course, right down to the unmistakable dog's collar. He had a kind of grim look about him, as if he knew of the exact horrors the Lord had in store for the world today. He turned to greet the Maxwells and gave Duo a little smile. 

        "Do we get the pleasure of your company in the choir today, Mister Maxwell?" He asked, turning his smile into a mock frown. 

        "Well you definitely need someone to bring a bit of quality to that choir and if that someone's gotta be me so be it." Duo said, a wide grin plastered across his face.

When the vicar laughed and rewarded Duo's rude comment with a warm smile and a pat on the back Heero began to wonder if there was anyone in this place who hadn't been won over by this happy-go-lucky farm boy.

They all walked on into the quaint little church. Heero gazed around at the interior of the relatively small building. It resembled your average church in every way really, right down to the cushions you would use to kneel on for prayers and the presence of the hymnbooks scattered around the church on the pews. 

They had arrived early so that the only people already there were the vicar, the pianist and two choirboys and their respective families. One of them, with sooty black hair, spotted Duo and nudged the other boy, who had thick strawberry blond hair. Both boys ran over and whisked Duo away, all in the blink of an eye. 

Heero watched the braided boy being dragged off and sighed quietly. He then sat down in a pew towards the back of the church, alongside Rosie and Joe. 

       "Are you alright, Heero?" Rosie asked, noticing the boy's downcast face.

Heero quickly snapped his head back up and put his mask of indifference back on. 

       "I'm fine, thank you." He replied politely, even rewarding the farmer's wife with a small smile. 

This seemed to satisfy Rosie sufficiently as she returned the smile, instantly reminding Heero of Duo's smile, which was almost identical to his mother's. Heero shifted uncomfortably in his seat and, as soon as it was polite to do so, averted his gaze from Rosie to continue staring at the church's interior designs. 

                       *       *       *       *       *       *

Duo finally regained control of his own movements once the boys had dragged him up to the front of the church. All three lounged on the slightly raised, carpeted platform. The boy with short back hair, which fell in a spiky wave over his forehead, spoke up first, nudging Duo lightly in the ribs as he spoke. 

       "So you're actually gonna join in with us this week, Duo?" He asked, giving the blond boy a slight wink. 

      "My mum says I have to." Duo replied, irritably.

The other two boys laughed at the reluctance and annoyance in Duo's voice and on his face.

       "Who's the kid then?" The blond boy asked, lazily gesturing in Heero's general direction.

Duo's face lit up and he looked over at Heero as he spoke.

       "That's Heero. He's an evacuee that's staying with us."

The two boys eyed each other in confusion. 

       "Um...Duo, why are you so happy about having a _townie _staying with you?" The dark-haired boy asked, putting a bit of his disgust in his tone on the word 'townie'. 

       "Don't call him that!" Duo exclaimed defensively. "You don't know what you're talking about, James."

       "Hmm...I know what I've heard. Those London kids are meant to be spoilt little brats that whine all the time." James said, lazily pulling a hand through his spiky hair.

Duo was shocked at the generalised description. 'Heero's the complete opposite to that.' He thought, staring back at where the city boy sat, staring into space. 

       "Earth to Duo." The blond boy said, rolling his sky blue eyes and clicking his fingers in front of the braided boy's face.

       "Wha...what?" Duo said hazily, coming back to reality. "Oh, David, its you. What are we singing today, huh?"

James and David stared at each other in confusion, again, but quickly turned back to their friend, grins spread wide again. 

       "What?" Duo asked in a bewildered voice.

       "Eh...nothing." David said, still grinning. "I think we're singing 'Amazing Grace and then 'Jerusalem', along with the rest of the congregation."

       "Oh, okay." Duo said, as if he had forgotten what they were talking about.

David and James sighed loudly and then all three boys got up to help the vicar finish setting things up for the service, specifically the wireless. 

The little church soon filled up; the stragglers having to stand up at the back. Mr Andrews stood up on the platform. The choir, made up of ten boys aged from about eleven to fourteen, stood behind him in two lines, the back line raised up by the five boys standing on a bench. 

Heero watched on from his seat next to Rosie. He wasn't really taking in the vicar's words having always found religion a bit boring, though he could never admit that. He did enjoy singing the hymns however. That was what he was really waiting for, along the speech Chamberlain was supposed to give. 

He did take note when the vicar introduced the choir. They were going to sing 'Amazing Grace'. Heero watched Duo with some fascination as the boy prepared to sing. He was twisting a chestnut bang, a look that was a cross between nervousness and irritation in his amethyst eyes. When he started to sing he opened his mouth inline with the other boys but there was just something slightly different, which Heero couldn't quite place his finger on. 

The choir finished the hymn and Heero found he hadn't been able to tear his eyes away from the violet-blue orbs of the farmer's son. They seemed to hold so many different changing emotions as the hymn wore on. He shook his dark head and then looked towards the vicar expectantly. 

Mr Andrews carried on with the service' reading through a passage from the New Testament and leading the congregation into the Lord's Prayer and then some other simple prayers. The whole church was then filled with the patriotic singing as 'Jerusalem' was sung with much gusto. Heero's eyes shone enthusiastically as he sang and he projected his voice well, drawing a surprised look from Rosie that soon turned into a look of admiration. 

Eventually the actual church service was over and everybody's attention lay on the wireless, which Mr Andrews was powering up. Heero watched patiently as the knobs were turned this way and that as the vicar tried to tune into the right station. Duo fiddled impatiently with his braid, still standing in the front row of the little choir. Mr Andrews eventually found Chamberlain's voice.

        "_I am speaking to you from the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street. This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note stating that unless we heard from them by eleven o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us._

_        I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received and that consequently this country is at war with Germany."_

A few people around the church let out a gasp or a cry but most remained respectively quiet. Duo nodded his head in an 'I knew this would happen' fashion. Heero just gazed straight ahead, silently awaiting the Prime Minster's conclusion to his declaration speech. 

It never came. For some reason the wireless' power died and Mr Andrews frantically tried to fix it but to no avail. The little church in Hastings was left in complete silence as its entire congregation contemplated what the Prime Minister had just said. Everyone, old and young, wondered what else Chamberlain had to say, but none more so than Heero. He had been waiting for the leader to give a rousing speech on courage but, if he had done so, Heero had missed it. He bowed his head in slight depression.

End chapter.  

Well that's that for another chapter. I guess I should explain a couple of things so people don't start ranting at me. There is very good reason why Duo still huggles a teddy bear in bed. (Apart from the cuteness of it that is^^) Um…as far as the Chamberlain speech goes, it is part of the official one, as far as I know, but the real one was very long and drawn out, which is why I shortened it to my own needs.

Well I think that's it, obviously if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. Lol. So all that's left to say really is please r&r and I'll get the next chap out much sooner (I've already started writing it^_~)

Ja ne!

Alana^_^     


	4. Building a shelter

A/N: Right first of all I know I said this chap would be out more quickly than the last but

         I've been having some serious problems at home. Plus I've been ill and also had an

         ongoing eye infection. So hopefully I can be forgiven. Lol. 

         Also this time, rather than type out a list of reviewers to thank, I've spent a little

         time replying properly. So you'll find them at the end of the chap. Lol.

         This chap is longer than my other ones and I think it might be the average length of 

         my chaps from now on. I hope this pleases you all. All that's left really to say is

         please read and hopefully enjoy. Lol. (Sorry for my excessive use of Lol. Hehe.)  

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. I'm also only borrowing

                   the structure of Goodnight Mister Tom for now. I shall pull away from the

                   plot structure of it soon enough (in case any smart person has picked up on

                   this^^). 

**                                               Chapter 4: Building a shelter**

The congregation soon dispersed when it was clear the wireless wasn't going to work. Some people stayed behind to speak to the vicar, seeking condolence in god about the uncertain future the war declaration had presented. 

The Maxwells and Heero left with sombre expressions. Even Duo looked subdued by the announcement of war as he walked beside Heero, his braid seeming to droop like the tail on a miserable dog. They made the ten-minute walk in silence right up until they got to Seaview farm's front door. 

         "Cheer up kids. We'll leave fighting this war to the government and go and eat a good Sunday lunch." Joe said, trying his best to lighten the mood. 

Duo immediately took the bait, a grin forming on his face and a bounce falling into his step as he walked into the house. He then tilted his head back and sniffed the air. "Roast chicken." He stated matter-of-factly, the grin widening.

Rosie matched her son's grin. "You never get it wrong do you." She said, before opening the door to the kitchen to go and check on the aforementioned roast in the oven. 

Duo twirled his braid around in his fingers and then twirled himself around, right as Heero walked up behind him. The two boys were virtually nose to nose. Heero backed up in shock. Duo, if he was surprised didn't let it show, he just stood there with the insane grin still planted on his face. 

         "Hey we better go help mum by laying the table." Duo said, his voice much calmer than his body language. 

Heero nodded numbly, completely bewildered by the boy's bizarre behaviour.

The two boys walked through to the kitchen and washed their hands in the sink before moving over to the dining table, armed with knives, forks, plates and glasses. Duo chattered away like usual and Heero remained stubbornly silent. Both boys had to keep dodging in and out of Rosie's path, who was busily preparing the vegetables to go alongside the chicken. Joe was out tending to the animals as usual. 

Eventually they were all sat down to a plentiful roast lunch. Duo had taken a plate of food through to his granddad again and Heero was beginning to wonder if he'd ever meet the old man. 

          "How are you finding this place, Heero? I know it must be very different to home." Rosie asked smiling, deliberately asking a question that didn't have a 'yes/no' answer. 

Heero swallowed the bit of chicken he was chewing a bit prematurely, in surprise at the question, and started to choke as the chicken got stuck in his throat. 

          "Heero! Are you okay?" Duo shouted, before jumping out of his seat and whacking the other boy on the back.    

Heero baulked at the force of the boy's slaps to his back and had to squeeze his eyes shut to block out the searing pain each time the sensitive part of his back was hit. 

Eventually the offending piece of chicken was dislodged and Heero only just managed to swallow it rather than spitting it back up.

          "Oh Heero, are you alright now?" Rosie asked, looking guiltily at the boy, who's usually pale face was bright red due to the amount of choking he had just done. 

          "I'm fine, thank you." Heero squeezed out his response through his heavy breathing, still trying to recover. 

          "Thank goodness." Rosie breathed in relief before turning her gaze to Duo, who was still standing behind Heero with his hand suspended in mid-air. "You can sit down again now, Duo." She said, not unkindly. 

 Duo seemed to have zoned out but, at the sound of his mother's voice, life returned to his bright eyes and he lowered his hand and sat back down, giving Heero an inquiring look. The city boy shrugged the look off and returned to picking at his food. 

Rosie exchanged a worried glance with Joe before turning back to her own food. She decided to leave the question she'd asked Heero alone. There was plenty of time to ask him again.

After they had all finished lunch and had cleaned up Joe told the boys to go and change because they were to start building the Anderson shelter this afternoon. So Heero and Duo traipsed back up the stairs again.

Duo jogged straight over to his chest of drawers, pulled out his old dungarees and proceeded in pulling his smart shirt over his head, without unbuttoning it. It got stuck as he hadn't even undone the top button. Rather than pulling it back on and undoing the button, he attempted to undo the button when it was still stuck on his head. Proving a rather amusing sight for Heero had he been watching instead of having his eyes focused on his clothes, lying in his opened suitcase. He was carefully scanning the neatly folded clothes, before finally picking out a dark green, short-sleeved shirt and a pair of black trousers. 

Duo had finally been successful in pulling his shirt off and was now in the process of buckling up the top of his dungarees. He turned around to see if Heero had picked out his clothes yet and instantly saw the trousers the other boy was holding up. 

         "You'll roast in those. Believe me; building a shelter is no easy task. I know 'cause I helped build a friend's one a few days ago." Duo said matter-of-factly. 

Heero reluctantly dropped the trousers and picked up a pair of corduroy shorts, which were a dark blue colour. As he began to change he made absolutely sure that his bare back was hidden from Duo the entire time, while still listening to the other boy's chattering. 

         "I'll have to sort my chest of drawers out and then you can put your clothes in too." Duo said unselfishly, a helpful glint in his eyes. 

Heero gave him a grateful nod as he buttoned up the rest of his shirt. 

When both boys had changed they made their way back downstairs. On the way down Duo found out that Heero didn't have any wellie boots so he offered up his spare pair, which Heero accepted gladly as he didn't want to ruin either pair of his shoes. 

They pulled identical wellie boots on and then stepped out of the back door, the hot, September sun shining down on their faces. They were met by three figures; Duo's dad, Joe, and two strangers, too Heero's eyes, one Joe's age and one Duo's age. 

Duo grinned at the sight of the other boy. "Hey Trowa! I didn't know you were helping out." He yelled out, running up to the other boy. 

        "Hello Duo." Trowa said in a soft voice, smiling back at the braided boy. 

Heero watched the exchange from afar. He took in the newcomer's brown hair, which hung in a spiky wave, struck out in front in a rather peculiar style. He had piercing emerald eyes, one of which was partially hidden by the long spikes of hair. He was taller than he and Duo were, possibly by a whole head, but still came across as being the same age as them. He wore denim shorts and a white tank-top, showing off deeply tanned arms and legs. He also had wellie boots on but they were a bluey-grey colour. 

Duo and Trowa walked back over to where Heero was and Duo proceeded with introductions. 

        "Heero, this is Trowa Barton. He's a friend from school and also helps out on the farm from time to time." Duo said, gazing steadily at the London boy. He shifted his eyes slightly in Trowa's direction. "Trowa, this is Heero Yuy. He's an evacuee who is staying with us." The farmer's son finished with an unnecessary swing of his arm in Heero's direction. 

The two boys locked gazes. Heero had a portion of suspicion in his blue eyes and Trowa's body language gave off a reluctance to trust the stranger. 

        "Well um…let's get some spades, huh." Duo said, desperately trying to break the icy silence. 

        "Hold your horses, Duo." Joe said, walking over with the other man following just behind.

Duo stopped and held his hands out in front of him, curling his fingers up as if holding a horse by its reins. Heero smirked slightly and Trowa gave a slightly amused chuckle. 

         "We need to pick out a spot to start digging before we even think about getting spades." Joe said, hiding a grin that threatened to turn into a laugh at his son's literal behaviour. 

The other man was introduced as Charlie, Trowa's father. He had similar colour hair to his son, but instead of having it long at the front and short at the back, he had it short at the front and long enough at the back that he could put it in a small pony tail. His eyes were a dark shade of hazel. 

A patch of soft ground, a decent distance from the outhouse, was soon chosen and Joe and Charlie started measuring it out with a tape measure. The three boys wandered off to go and get the spades. 

         "Have you ever dug a trench before, Heero?" Duo asked, as he unbolted the door to the shed. 

Heero gave Duo an incredulous look, which answered Duo's question straight away.        

         "Yeah um…right, stupid question, of course you haven't." Duo said quickly, pulling the shed door open and entering the dimly lit shed. 

The boys were soon walking back towards the two men. Duo and Trowa carried two spades each and Heero carried the fifth one. Trowa and Heero were still giving each other suspicious glances and Duo walked in between the two looking mildly uncomfortable.  

Joe and Charlie accepted a spade each off their sons and they all found a spot inside the lines marked out for the trench and began to dig. 

Heero, being a stranger to manual work, found the digging quite hard going. The hot sun was beating down onto the top of his neck, where the collar on his shirt finished, and he found himself rubbing sweat from his forehead after only about twenty minutes. 

He looked across at Duo, who was working on a patch of ground to the left of himself. The farmer's son didn't look like the heat was affecting him at all. He had moved a lot more earth than Heero had. Although, Heero noted, the braided boy seemed to have gotten quite a lot of that earth over himself because he had mud streaks staining his arms and knees already. Heero shook his head in disbelief at the sight and turned back to what he was doing, but not without seeing Trowa give him another glance. 

        'What's his problem?' Heero thought, before shoving it to the back of his mind and pushing his spade into the stubborn ground once more. 

The five of them had been digging for a good couple of hours, having only taken a quick drink break after about an hour and a half, and they had a fairly large trench dug so far. The aim now was to increase the depth a bit more and then they could fit the steel sheets of the shelter into place. 

Soon after the drink break Duo had unbuckled the top bit of his dungarees and then buckled it up around his waist, letting the top bit dangle down, allowing his bare chest and back to get some air without the denim obstructing it. Trowa, Joe and Charlie had also pulled of their tops as the day's heat mixed with the strenuous labour. Only Heero kept his shirt on. He had unbuttoned all but three of the buttons, so that his shirt flapped slightly in the faint breeze, but it was clearly evident that he would be far better off without it. 

        "Hey Heero." Duo said, stopping his digging and moving over to stand next to the other boy. "Why don't you just take this thing off? You're sweating like a pig." He carried on and then went to grab a handful of Heero's shirt in explanation to the 'this' in his sentence. 

Heero's reaction was extremely fast and rather more vicious than he meant it to be. He swung around and sent the farmer's son sprawling over backwards into the mud by giving him one almighty shove, both palms pushing firmly against Duo's chest. 

         "Get off me!" Heero heard himself shout, something he'd wanted to do even less than shoving Duo to the ground. 

Duo sat on the damp ground, leaning on his hands, which he had thrown down to catch his fall. He looked up into Heero's angry blue eyes and didn't know whether to feel hurt or angry and so ended up with a confused look in his eyes. 

Duo opened his mouth to say something but Heero hastily muttered something about going to the toilet, spun on his heel and ran off towards the outhouse. Duo shut his mouth again and just stared at the city boy's retreating back. 

         "What's going on?" Joe said, walking over to the half of the trench the boys had been digging. 

Duo climbed to his feet and quickly pinned a grin to his face. "Nothing much really, dad. A little digging here, a little digging there, you know like we're supposed to be doing." He finished speaking with a nervous chuckle as he caught sight of Trowa's narrowed eyes.

         "Hmm…okay, but Duo, try not to get too mucky." Joe said, his eyebrows raised but a dismissive tone in his voice. 

Duo gave his dad a cheery wave as the farmer wandered back over to Charlie, before turning to Trowa and his narrow eyed stare. 

         "What happened to your 'I never tell a lie' motto?" Trowa asked, his emerald eyes narrowing even more. 

Duo fingered the end of his braid nervously. "It wasn't a lie. It was just um…hiding the truth…" Duo said, his voice a little higher than usual. 

         "Whatever, Duo, but I don't see why you're prepared to break your most treasured motto for a townie you hardly know." Trowa said with a small hint of a sigh.

         "Heero may just be a 'townie' in your eyes but as far as I'm concerned if I can just bring him out of his shell a bit he could become a great friend." Duo retorted angrily, but in a low voice so as not to alert their fathers.  

Trowa stared in stunned silence at his friend's unusual behaviour. He couldn't recall ever seeing Duo get so heated up about something. He continued to stare as Duo turned his back on him and started to dig again, sending his spade into the ground with renewed energy. Trowa let out another sigh and turned back to his own digging. 

                                    *         *         *         *         *         *

Heero ran all the way to the outhouse, pulled the door open, and shut himself inside. He leaned heavily against the wall and slid down until he was seated on the floor. Resting his arms on his knees, he laid his face in his hands, rubbing his thumbs in tiny circular motions on his temples, a calming techniques Michael had shown him. Michael would have been disappointed that he had lashed out like that. He had been helping Heero by teaching him calming techniques so that he didn't need to lash out at people. He also knew exactly what Michael would have said about it too because he had said it so many times before.

         _"You didn't have to lash out, Heero. You should have counted to ten and asked him to leave you alone, calmly."_

Heero couldn't help but smile. Michael just had this way about him that made people sit up and listen. Sometimes when he was talking to Michael it was like talking to his late grandfather. His grandfather was Japanese and had died three years ago. Heero had been learning Japanese off him but had stopped after he had died. Maybe he would start learning again. He could ask his mother to send on the Japanese dictionary/grammar book his grandfather had given him for his ninth birthday. 

         'Duo wasn't being spiteful like the others, he was just trying to be helpful.' Heero thought. 'But I don't understand why he should care. He only met me yesterday. Nobody has ever cared about how I felt before. Except Mother, Grandpa and Michael' Heero buried his face deeper into his palms. 'Damn, I've got to stop feeling sorry for myself. I'm sure glad father isn't here to see me like this.' Heero's shoulders shook a bit at this thought and he instinctively brought a hand round to his back, running it gingerly over the slightly raised part of skin. 'I suppose I should get back and help them dig.' He thought grimly, using the wall to help himself back to his feet. 

                                        *         *         *         *         *         *

Duo was shovelling away at the ground furiously, whipping up earth in all directions. Eventually Trowa had to call out to him to stop because the farmer's son was completely covering him with earth and he wasn't able to get any digging done himself. Making for a very uneven half of the trench. 

         "Duo Stop! You're getting earth everywhere."

Duo looked up, startled by the sudden voice in his ear. He noticed that it was Trowa and quickly poked his spade into the ground and placed his hands on his hips.

         "What's up?" He asked, as if he genuinely didn't know what he had done wrong. 

Trowa gestured to his mud covered body and Duo grinned at him. 

         "Gawd! You're even messier than me!" He let out a low whistle and then turned round, picked up his spade, and got back to work. 

Trowa stared at his friend in stunned silence for a second time before letting out an impatient sigh and picking his own spade back up and setting back to work, not without glimpsing Heero's return, but saying nothing as the London boy picked his own spade up and began digging his section again. Duo looked up briefly but quickly put his head down again and carried on digging, at a much more tolerable pace now. 

Eventually they had dug the trench deep enough and the three boys sat back as Joe and Charlie fitted the steel sheets of the shelter into place. Rosie brought out some glasses of cold lemonade for them and the three of them sat in silence sipping their drinks and watching the men at work. 

Once the shelter structure had been fitted securely into the trench, Charlie and Trowa had to go home for their tea. So after some overly enthusiastic goodbyes from Duo and a polite goodbye from Heero, the Barton father and son left for home. 

          "I've made some sandwiches. Why don't you boys go and wash your hands and we can all have a tea break." Rosie called cheerily out of the open back door. 

Duo's face lit up and he ran inside. Heero followed at a cautious distance, unsure as to how Duo felt towards him after their little rift. They both washed their hands at the kitchen sink, the mud mixing with the soap as they did so, making a rather gungy mess. 

         "We're sure making a mess." Duo said with a laugh. 

Heero stayed quiet, even more confused as to what Duo was thinking. 'He's probably forgotten about the whole incident.' He thought in wonderment. 

The Maxwells and Heero had their tea of sandwiches, cake and lemonade outside with some idle chatter, mostly from Duo, and then Joe and Rosie had to go and attend a Community meeting to discuss the situation the war declaration had put them in. Heero and Duo were to stay home and start covering the shelter with earth. 

          "Hey Heero, how about you start that side and I'll start this side?" Duo asked, pointing out the respective sides of the trench.

Heero nodded numbly, not wanting to admit that he was tired from all the digging and also still slightly worried that Duo was angry at him for the shoving incident. He walked over to his allotted side and crouched down. He grabbed a handful of damp soil and dropped it over the shelter. The coolness of the earth felt refreshing to his hand and a little smile appeared on his face as he settled to his new task.

Duo watched Heero from his side of the trench. He, like Heero, was crouched down piling earth onto the Anderson shelter. 'I wonder what made him flip out like that earlier? Maybe he just doesn't want to be friends with me.' He ended his thought with a disappointed sigh and carried on piling earth on the steel structure, not being able to bring himself to look at the other boy now. 

The two boys carried on working like this for a good hour when Duo became bored of the silence and plucked up the courage to look at and talk to the other boy again. He dropped the handful of soil he held onto the half-covered shelter and looked up and across at Heero. 

         "I'm sorry if I offended you in any way earlier. I didn't know what I was doing was wrong." Duo said all this and then immediately bowed his head, thinking that he wouldn't get a response because it wasn't like he usually did. 

Heero lifted his head up. 'He's apologising to me? I don't understand. What should I say back to him?' He clung to his thoughts for a moment and then decided on his words, although still uncertain if what he was saying was the right thing. "It's me who should be apologising. I shouldn't have lashed out like that. I'm sorry." 

Duo's head shot up and he stared across at Heero, amazement etched across his features. 'He actually responded! Three whole sentences! Plus he apologised to me!' His thoughts sounded so loud in his head he was worried he had spoken them out loud. For the first time in his life Duo was speechless. He wasn't sure how to respond and in the end decided on a cheery response that anyone would expect him to come up with. "Apology accepted, buddy." Duo said this with a huge grin on his face.

Heero looked at the other boy in horror. 'I'm glad he's not mad at me but he just doesn't seem normal. Even Michael wouldn't have accepted my apology as easily as that. He would have lectured me to death first.' 

Duo was taken aback by Heero's response. 'He really does have a problem with me. I bet nobody has ever tried this hard to make friends with him before. I guess I better keep my distance for a bit otherwise I might scare him off completely.' With a little reluctance he averted his gaze from the other boy and dug his hand into the damp soil again and sprinkled it over the shelter.

Heero missed the reluctance in the farmer's son's eyes and just saw Duo turn away from here and seemingly leaving him on his own, just like everyone always did. 'I was right! It was all just a false act. He's had enough of me now and he can't be bothered to pretend to be friends anymore.' Heero cast the thought away and expertly drew a blank on his face, leaving all emotions behind. 

When Joe and Rosie returned from the meeting, Heero and Duo were still in the same positions covering the shelter with earth. The two hours of tedious work was really showing on the two boys, especially Heero. He was having trouble keeping his eyes open. 

        "Look at you two. You're both in right states. I'll go and heat some water up for baths." Rosie said, carefully hiding her concern for the weary look on Heero's face. 'I mustn't treat him differently from Duo. Janet said that the child staying with her got very mouthy with her when she tried to treat him differently from Susie.' She left Joe to sort out the boys and went inside to heat enough water to give both boys warm baths. 

Joe inspected the boys work and gave a low whistle. "You boys sure worked hard. You've nearly got it covered. We'll just have to get the ladder out tomorrow morning to cover the middle parts of the roof and then we're done. I'm very proud of you both." He ruffled Duo's hair and gave Heero a cheery smile. "Let's put these spades away and then go inside." He finished, picking up two of the spades and walking towards the shed.

Heero and Duo picked up the three remaining spades and followed Joe to the shed. They put the spades away and made their way to the back door.

Several minutes later Rosie had the tin bath filled with warm water and Heero was left alone in the room with the bath, with the promise that he wouldn't be disturbed. He glanced at the bath with a small amount of interest. He had grown up in a modern house which had electricity, central heating, and a fixed bath with hot and cold taps. 'I don't think they go without these things because they can't afford to install them. I think they prefer to keep this farm house old fashioned.' He thought, while running a finger through the warm water inside the tub. 

He withdrew his finger from the water and carefully unbuttoned his shirt. He then eased it off his back and winced a little bit as the rough material caught on the raised scar on his back. 'I don't hate you for this dad but you scarred me for life. How could you do this to your only son?' He stripped the rest of his clothes off and climbed into the tub, letting out a sigh as the warm water rose up around his tired body. 

Once Heero had had his bath, Rosie emptied the tub, which now contained murky water, and refilled it for Duo. Duo went into the little room and undressed, climbing into the tub and letting out a sigh similar to Heero's as the warm water started to work its magic on his mud covered body. 'I wonder when I should start trying to befriend Heero again. He got totally freaked by my acceptance of his apology. I definitely need to give him his own space for a bit. Oh well, he'll come out of his shell soon. I'll make certain of it.' He finished the thought and slid under the bubbles. 

Once the two boys were clean and dressed in their pyjamas, Rosie gave them both a cup of cocoa to take up to bed with them and they said their goodnights and ascended the stairs. 

Duo clambered straight onto his bed and managed to spill some of his drink on the sheets. "Damn it! How do I always manage to do that?" He cursed, before using his sleeve to wipe his sheet, causing both of them to have chocolaty stains on them. 

Heero snuck a little look but offered no help, just keeping quiet and doing what Duo should have done; that is putting his cocoa on the floor and then climbing into bed. 

Duo watched this and slapped himself playfully on the head. "Why didn't I think of that?" He then put his mug on the floor and drew his bedcovers back. He sat there staring at his hands for a minute, trying to decide whether to strike up a conversation with Heero or not. 'No I mustn't. I have to give him some space.' With that thought he plucked up a book from the little pile on the floor by his bed and opened it. 'A little bit of Roald Dahl ought to help.' He thought with a content sigh.  

Heero watched Duo open his book. 'Roald Dahl? I guess he either isn't as good at reading as me or he just prefers reading younger books.' Heero thought, before picking up his own book; _Hard Times_ by Charles Dickens. He let out his own sigh, but hardly one of pure content like Duo's, and carried on reading from where he'd left off this morning.        

End chapter.

Phew! Well that's that chappie done and dusted. If anyone has any questions or just wants to be nice and leave a review (hehe) I'd be really grateful. I can't think of anything at the moment to explain but obviously I'll be happy to answer questions to the best of my abilities. Thanks for taking the time to read. Lol. ^_^

mysticheero -  Thanks a lot for your review. It was a joy to read. I can understand

                        completely about the exam thing. Ack! So not looking forward to mine in

                        May and June. Heero and Duo are 12, btw, they weren't meant to come

                        across as 5 year olds. Oh well. Thanks again for your review.

Mariana1 – An ickle bit more on Heero's father this chap. Lol. Here is your 'more', sorry

                    it took so long. Thanks for your review.

gundam06serenity – Sorry this one took even longer (I have my reasons, very good ones)

                                 This one is even longer tho. Thanks for your review. 

CuriousDreamWeaver – Thanks for your review. I'm glad you enjoyed it and thanks a lot

                                        for your compliments about my use of language. It's those

                                        comments that make me feel happy. Lol. 

holly – Thanks for your review. Heero's great isn't he, but I still can't decide between 

             him and Duo. Glad you like the fic.  

Star Dragonsong – Thanks for your review, Star. Gafield's Pookie! Awww. Glad you

                               found another pc and found this chap made it worthwhile. Hope you

                               enjoyed this one. Lol.  

 Purple Uranium – Woo! A query to clear up. Just what I've been waiting for.

                               Chamberlain was prime minister up until May 1940 and then

                               Churchill took over. Thanks a lot for the review and hopefully I've

                               cleared up that little question. If you have anymore queries don't

                               hesitate to ask. Lol.  

Natea - ^_^ Thankies for betaing again for me. I really appreciate it. Lol. The

            Chamberlain speech idea was kind of a last minute addition (actually I couldn't be 

             bothered to type out the whole thing). I was kind of worried about having Duo's

             teddy in it cos not many 12 year old boys still hug teddy bears in bed but there is           

             a good reason so…why not. Also included some more Heero past stuff, just for

             you. Lol. Thankies for your review.  

vicky – Heya! Thanks a lot for your review. Getting compliments off you about my        

             writing and historical knowledge is great. Brightened my day (only cos you're

             under pain of death to be nice. Hehe. Only joking) Thanks again for your review,

             mate. ^_^

Next chapter soon hopefully. Home life and health permitting. Lol. 

~Alana~


	5. Tour around town

** A/N: **Well here is chapter 5, finally. I gotta apologise for the length of time it's taken me but I have been exceedingly busy. Since the last chapter I've competed in the College rugby nationals, been to an anime convention, gotten a boyfriend (hehe), and stressed over exams, which I am still stressing over. Lol. I have finally gotten it done. It's a decent length (my longest ever) and um…it's here for you to read XDOne thing about the last chapter nobody seemed to pick up on was the little mistake I made without realising until after I had posted the chap. Duo couldn't possibly have been reading Roald Dahl during the second world war because Roald Dahl's books came after then. Oops!! My bad. This fault will be rectified in later chaps. Lol. Oh yeah and big thankies and huggles to natea for beta-ing for me again. You're doing a top-notch job. Lol. 

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. (Yup, I'm too tired to write a more interesting disclaimer) 

****

** Chapter 5: Tour around town**

_4th September, 1939._

Heero woke up at a little after 8am and winced. He had slept extremely well, possibly a full nine hours, but now he was awake his muscles felt like taut cardboard, especially in his upper arms. The hours of hard work he put into helping build the shelter yesterday was really starting to show.

He rolled over onto his side and immediately noticed that something was different compared to yesterday morning; Duo's bed was empty. The patterned duvet cover on the other boy's bed was thrown aside, exposing his white sheets and his teddy bear, which was lying just below the pillow.

'I wonder where he is and why he got up so early?' Heero thought distractedly, still trying to blink sleep out of his eyes. He stifled a yawn that threatened to come out and pulled himself up into a sitting position, groaning slightly as his sore muscles complained at every movement. 'Who would have thought my muscles could ever feel this tight. I hope I don't have to do anything too strenuous today.' He mused this thought over as he tried to persuade his aching limbs to move so he could climb out of bed.

Duo hummed happily to himself as he sprinkled seed down for the chickens. The sunlight was shining down on him making his already good mood even better. 'It sure is a warm day again. I wonder if Heero's up yet. He's missing out on the morning sunshine.' Duo thought, still humming as he dropped the last of the seed down on the ground.

"There, finished." He said out loud to no one in particular. Jess looked up at him from where she was lying on the floor. Her ears pricked up and her tongue hung out of her mouth. "I see you've already worn yourself out, Jess." Duo said, laughing at the panting Border collie.

"Duo, have you finished feeding the chickens yet?" Joe shouted from inside one of the nearby barns.

"Yes dad." Duo shouted back, while at the same time teasing Jess with the empty seed bucket. "What do you want me to do now?" He asked, even though he knew perfectly well that he would be putting out fresh water for the horses next.

"Horses." Joe replied, knowing that Duo was just joking around and that he knew his morning chores list off by heart.

Duo dropped the seed bucket off in the 'chicken feed' shed and headed in the direction of the stables, with Jess ambling along just behind him, tongue still hanging out.

Heero pulled a dark blue, short-sleeved t-shirt over his head, flicked a hand through his unruly hair and made his way down the stairs. He heard the sound of soft humming coming from the kitchen and the whistle of the kettle as it boiled as he walked through the hall. The familiar sounds made him think of his mother and how she was always up early, starting on the housework and preparing breakfast while he and his father were still sleeping soundly in their beds. He let out a small sigh and then immediately scowled at himself for doing so. 'I've got to stop acting so pathetic. Plenty of other kids have had to leave their parents behind too.'

"Good morning, Heero. Would you like some breakfast?" Rosie greeted in a cheery voice.

Heero nodded numbly at her, not being able to find his tongue because his thoughts were still stuck back in London. Rosie smiled reassuringly at him and patted him lightly on the shoulder.

"Why don't you go out the back and get Duo in for me. He hasn't eaten yet either. He should be at the stables by now."

Heero nodded again, politely this time, and headed for the back door. He stepped out the door, having pulled Duo's second pair of wellie boots on, and breathed in the sea air, taking in the freshness of it compared to the polluted London air. 'So different from home…' He shook his head in annoyance at his constant thoughts of home, before lifting his head up and walking briskly to the stables, up on the far field.

He entered the stables about five minutes later, slightly out of breath because he had walked so quickly. He found Duo sitting on an up-turned box, looking up at a chestnut coloured horse. He had a slightly forlorn expression on his face and he was talking in a soft tone to the animal. Heero stared awkwardly at the other boy, who hadn't noticed him standing there yet.

"Hey Heero. What's up?" Duo said without turning around.

Heero found himself jumping a bit. 'How did he know I was here?' He shook his head slightly and quietly cleared his throat. "Erm…your mum said there's breakfast ready for you." He blurted out the sentence in a way he wouldn't normally do. 'What is wrong with me at the moment? It's like I'm afraid of him or something.'

Duo turned round, a smile on his face, and got to his feet. "Well let's go eat then." He said matter-of-factly.

Heero stared in surprise at the farmer's son. He had the strangest expression on his face, like he was stuck between happiness and sadness. 'Maybe he's sad about his horse's leg.' Heero shook his head slightly again and followed the other boy out of the stable.

The two boys walked in silence back to the house, a renewed Jess loping along beside them. They stepped into the house having removed their boots. Rosie was still in the kitchen but the table had been set for two and there was two glasses of orange juice placed on the table.

"Get yourselves in here and wash your hands. I'm just putting your breakfast on plates." Rosie said, her voice slightly raised as she was calling them from the kitchen.

The two boys glanced at each other momentarily; Duo's face an expression of amusement and Heero's one of confusion. 'Why only two places at the table?' He shrugged the thought off and followed Duo through to the kitchen, where they washed their hands in the sink.

"Eggs and bacon on toast alright for you boys?" Rosie asked, her voice as cheery as ever.

"Yeah! That sounds awesome, mum." Duo said, putting unnecessary emphasis on the word 'awesome'.

Heero stayed silent, carefully rinsing the soap off his hands. 'Duo answered well enough for both of us anyway.' He thought, before turning the tap off and accepting the towel from Duo to dry his hands.

Both boys were soon sat at the table, their plates of food in front of them. Duo was happily working his way through his plateful and even Heero was eating more this morning, savouring the taste of the bacon in his mouth. The bacon his mother bought from the local shop was nowhere near as good as this bacon.

They ate in silence for a while and then when they were both nearly finished Duo decided to try and make conversation again. "How's the bacon and eggs, Heero?" He asked it and immediately wished he hadn't because it sounded like such a stupid question when he thought about it.

Heero put his knife and fork down and looked up at the other boy. "They're nice, thank you." He said politely, but not in the same polite tone he'd been using yesterday. There was a slight bit more friendliness in his tone today.

Duo smiled. "Hey good. Um…what do ya wanna do today? I mean my mum suggested I could take you into town and show you round a bit but I don't mind really." He ended a little bit nervously, something he never did usually, even with complete strangers.

Heero responded almost immediately. "I'd like to do that, please." His face was still unsmiling but a slight bit of interest, maybe even excitement crept into his blue eyes.

Duo's smile widened into a grin. "Cool. We'll do that then. Hastings town centre is great, especially on a Monday. It's market day, so there'll be a lot of interesting stalls and stuff to look at."

Heero actually let a small smile creep onto his face and he sped up in his eating of his breakfast. 'Hmm…this day shouldn't be too bad after all. I wonder how far the town centre is from here? I know the town hall's not too far but that didn't look to be the centre to me…' He let his thoughts trail off as he swallowed the last bit of bacon and downed the rest of his juice.

"Woah! You do have an appetite after all. That's the first meal you've finished all of your food since you got here." Duo said in a loud voice, genuinely surprised that the London kid had eaten everything this time.

"Duo!! Where are your manners?" Rosie yelled through from the kitchen.

Duo went slightly red and gazed apologetically at Heero. "Um…oops. Sorry, mum, and um…sorry Heero." He said this genuinely enough but he still had a slight lop-sided grin on his face.

Heero had to mentally stop himself from letting out a loud chuckle. 'Since when did I let anyone affect me like this?' He thought. 'If anyone else had said something like that to me I would have made them sorry.'

It was agreed that both boys would go out for the day so Duo could show Heero around the town centre. When both boys were ready; Duo changing into something slightly smarter than his shabby dungarees he always wore around the farm, they went through to the kitchen so Rosie could give her motherly instructions.

"Now you're to be on your best behaviour…" Rosie said, looking pointedly at Duo, who gave her a hurt expression in return. "…and make sure you're back here by five o'clock this afternoon, latest." She fiddled distractedly with her hair for a moment, very much in the same way Duo did, before carrying on. "Lets see, um…Heero, do you know how to ride a bike?"

Heero looked up in surprise. "Ye…yeah…" He said, confused at the random question.

Rosie smiled. "Ah good. That's okay then. You can both go on bicycles. Charlie dropped round Trowa's old one yesterday for Heero to use."

Heero's eyes had gone slightly wide which made Duo chuckle. "I bet'cha not as good as me at riding a bike." Duo said, a competitive glint in his bright eyes.

Heero scowled at the other boy but quickly remembered what his mother said about being polite. "Please give Trowa's father my thanks." He said, turning smartly to Rosie, quickly losing the scowl, replacing it with a polite smile.

Rosie smiled warmly back. "Of course I will. Now take care you two. I'll see you this afternoon."

"Okay mum. See ya later." Duo said, pulling a blue baseball cap out of his pocket and shoving it on his head, slightly lop-sided. He tapped Heero lightly on the shoulder and the two boys made their way to the front door.

Rosie watched them go out of the stable style doors. 'What a polite and well-mannered young man that Heero is. Maybe he'll teach my Duo something, and at the same time maybe Duo will teach him something too.' She mused over the thought for a minute and then went into the back garden to find her husband.

Duo led Heero to the side of the house where there were two bicycles propped up against the wall. The bikes were roughly the same size; one with the seat slightly higher than the other. Duo grabbed hold of the one with the raised seat. It was a dark blue colour and it had several stickers stuck on it with different images and text on them, obviously stuck on by Duo at some point.

"The other one is the one you can use." Duo said, pointing at the other bike, which was a slightly faded red colour.

Heero grabbed hold of the handle bars of the other bike and wheeled it away from the wall. 'I haven't ridden one of these for a long time…' Heero shook his head and ended the thought quickly. He was going to try and enjoy the day instead of letting past events get to him. There was something about this place that was bringing up a lot of memories and he didn't like it.

The two boys wheeled their bikes out through the gate and onto the dust ridden road, where they mounted them and pushed off, both boys pedalling as hard as they could to try and out do the other one.

"You'll never beat me, Heero." Duo yelled, pedalling even faster so that he pulled into a lead over the city boy.

Heero said nothing. He just kept pushing down on the pedals as hard as he could. He knew he didn't really have a hope of keeping up with Duo because he was out of practice at riding a bike and not as strong as Duo anyway.

About a mile's cycle ride later they arrived in what looked to be a town square, which was bustling with people because the market was in full swing. Duo grinned at Heero as he finally caught up with the braided boy.

"I told ya I'd win." Duo said, his tone more playful than arrogant.

Heero shrugged nonchalantly at the other boy and turned around to take in the scenery. The market was a rather large one, filling up most of the town square. From what Heero could see of it so far there was a vast array of goods on sale and plenty of people buying said goods. 'Hastings is bigger and busier than I thought it would be.' He turned around taking in the other side of the square. It held the smaller side of the market but wasn't any less busy. There seemed to be a majority of fruit stalls on this side of the market, whereas the other side was a wide mixture of goods.

"Earth to Heero!" Duo said in a bored tone. "Lets go."

Heero jumped and spun round. He gave Duo one of his best glares before following the braided boy as he wheeled his bike into the melee that was the market place.

They looked around the market for a bit, pushing their way through the crowds. Heero bought a little prone figure commemorating the Battle of Hastings, at which Duo commented on how all the tourists bought them, making Heero scowl at him again. Duo opted for a bag of pick n mix sweets from 'his favourite stall'. The boys then went on into the shopping area of the town, where they decided to stop at a café to get a drink and a cake.

"Hey Heero, do you wanna sit over here?" Duo asked, calling across from where he was standing right at the back of the café.

Heero shrugged in a 'don't care' manner and followed Duo's path through to the elected table. They both sat down and were soon approached by a young waitress, who held a pen and paper in her hand.

"What can I get for you boys?" She asked, smiling at Duo in a way that suggested she knew him fairly well.

"You know me, Em." Duo said with a grin. "I'll have my usual; a coca cola and a slice of chocolate cake."

The waitress, Emma, wrote down his order with a grin of her own on her face and then turned to Heero. "What about you, sweetie?" She asked, a strong Southern accent now showing through.

Heero scowled at the teenaged waitress before giving a quiet reply. "Same as Duo, please."

She laughed a gushing laugh, tugged playfully on Duo's braid and wandered back to the counter. Duo stuck his tongue out her retreating form in response to the tug on his hair. "She always does that. It's so ridiculously old now." He said in a mock-exasperated tone across the table to Heero. Heero nodded in acknowledgement and so Duo decided that was his cue to carry on talking. "Course I've known Emma ever since I started school. She's three years older than us but she acts like she's about ten years older." He stated matter-of-factly.

'I guess I should reply. I could find out a little about the school and stuff then.' Heero thought, eying the braided boy carefully. "What's your school like then?" He asked, still staring intently at Duo.

Duo's bright eyes went wide in shock at Heero's words. 'It worked! I can finally have a decent conversation with him. Progress.' A happy smile appeared on his face at this thought and he plunged straight into telling Heero about his school. "Well I'm not overly sure about the high school because I'll be starting my first year there the same time you start but the middle school was alright. I mean you got good and bad teachers 'un stuff. Um…we do lots of sport. We have PE like nearly everyday. I like playing rugby best and…"

He was cut off by Emma's return with their order. "Two colas and two chocolate cakes." She said with a smile, placing them down in front of either boy.

"Thank you, Em." Duo said in a happy voice, though he had a slightly annoyed expression in his eyes at having his conversation with Heero cut short. 'I'll start it up again.' He thought, staring eagerly at the slab of chocolate cake.

Heero stared up at Emma and even gave her a little smile. "Thank you." Emma beamed at them both, before sauntering off back to the counter. Heero picked up his fork and started to eat his chocolate cake in a much more conservative manner than Duo was doing. Duo had forgotten about the fork and just picked the slab of cake up in his hand, eating it as if the world was about to end.

When they had finished and had paid up, both boys said goodbye to Emma and went outside to collect their bikes from where they had left them propped up against the wall at the side of the café. Heero still couldn't believe that they could leave their bikes there like that. In London they would have been long gone by now; either taken by someone or broken up by some bored gang members. They wheeled the bikes out from the alleyway and towards the post office, which was just across the street from the café.

"I just have to go see someone at the post office." Duo said in explanation to Heero's slightly inquisitive look. Heero nodded and they wheeled their bikes across the road and propped them up on the wall in front of the post office.

On entering the post office, Heero was again surprised at how different everything was to home. It was your usual bog-standard post office, with the counter up the front where you took your goods to be weighed and the like and a small selection of stationary on sale to the side of the building, but it seemed more friendly than the local post office back home, where everyone seemed miserable all the time. 'I never thought travelling a short distance to the south would make so much of a difference.' He thought in wonderment, still staring around at the interior.

Once he had stared at the inside of the post office long enough to know every inch of it by memory, Heero stared over at the counter where Duo was having a fairly animated conversation with the woman sitting behind it. Having caught the tail end of the conversation, he wasn't overly sure what it was about but it seemed Duo was talking about comic books with her. The London boy cocked his head to one side in surprise at the thought that Duo would be discussing comic books with a middle-aged woman but quickly dismissed it as a 'country thing' and went back to waiting patiently for Duo to finish.

Duo eventually finished up his conversation and the two boys left the post office, with Duo giving Heero a little apologetic smile at keeping him standing around for so long, which Heero just barely acknowledged with a nod of his head. They reclaimed their bikes from the wall and wheeled them away from the post office, before mounting them and riding them away from the hustle and bustle of the market square. Duo led the way as they rode towards a quieter part of the town centre.

"Where are we going?" Heero asked, out of curiosity.

Duo nearly crashed into the curb at the sound of Heero's voice. 'He spoke first, without even a prompt.' He thought in surprise. He quickly righted himself, a tint of red entering his cheeks at his cycling mistake. "We're going to the park, which is just outside the centre. It gets a little boring in the centre after a while."

Heero let out a little 'ah' in acknowledgment and tried to hide his disappointment at leaving the centre so soon. He would have preferred to explore the other shops that were dotted either side of the post office. 'I wonder what's in this park. I shouldn't think it's anything like the ones back home.'

The park turned out to be a football pitch, a children's play area with swings and slides, and a woodland area at the far side. Duo laid his bike down next to the swings and claimed one of them. Heero followed suit, sitting down on the swing next to the farmer's son. They both swung lazily back and forth, neither of them making it any higher off the ground than about their knee level.

"So what do you think of Hastings so far?" Duo asked, gazing easily at Heero, who was watching the few wispy clouds move around in the sky as he swung.

Heero lowered his eyes and returned Duo's gaze. "It's very different to London." He said matter-of-factly.

Duo jumped on the chance to learn about the big city he hadn't had the opportunity to visit yet. "How do you mean?" He asked, his eyes not leaving the other boy's face.

Heero was reluctant to carry on with the conversation. He was breaking his resolve of socialising with Duo as little as possible. The time he had spent with the other boy today had made him feel considerably more comfortable around him. He was starting to believe that Duo did generally want to befriend him because they were well away from Duo's parents and yet he was still being really nice and friendly towards him. 'Maybe I'm just being stupid. I'm so used to just having Michael as a friend that I'm finding it difficult to accept anyone else's friendship.' Heero sighed inwardly and then decided he would answer Duo's question. Maybe he could have his first decent conversation since he was last with Michael.

"London is so busy and loud. It's also foul smelling in most places and rubbish litters the streets. I've found that the countryside smells um…fresh, and that there's always somewhere you can go where it's quiet. I've also found that the people here are generally friendlier than most people in London." Heero paused for breath, leaving Duo a gap to put his thoughts in.

"London's really like that? I always thought it was like this really cool place, where everyone gets to do what they want and go where they want." Duo said, his face slightly disbelieving and slightly disappointed. 'So much for London.' He thought with a sigh.

Heero gave Duo a slightly sympathetic look. 'I guess he really did have an idyllic view about London and city-life.' He suddenly had an idea to lighten the mood, the first time he felt like lightening the mood since he got here. He ran the swing back as far as it would go and launched himself into the air, throwing his legs back and forth as hard as he could.

Duo saw the challenge of a swing race straight away and quickly followed suit, frantically swinging his legs back and forth in an attempt to make up for the head start Heero got. "You won't beat me, Heero!" He declared in a loud but slightly desperate voice. He never lost swing races!

Heero laughed at the frantic look on Duo's face and swung his legs back and forth even faster, a determined look now appearing on his face, which was now flushed red compared to its usual pale colour. 'He beat me at cycling; I need to win some dignity back.' He thought, a little smirk appearing on his face.

Heero won the race to get highest first and Duo complained that he had had a head start, so they decided to rematch. Heero kept winning and Duo kept accusing him of cheating and they re-matched several more times until both boys were lying on their backs on the grassy floor, panting heavily and trying to regain their breath.

Duo found his voice again first and turned to Heero, who was lying next to him. "I still say you were cheating." He said but not in a bitter voice this time, he had his trademark lop-sided grin plastered on his face.

Heero inhaled and exhaled one more time before giving Duo a well placed reply. "I'm just better than you, baka."

Duo sat up quite sharply. "What did you just call me?" he asked in an indignant voice, not liking the fact that he was ignorant to what Heero had just said.

Heero chucked. "It's Japanese for idiot." He explained, sitting up as well.

Duo's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You know Japanese?" He asked, completely forgetting that he had just been insulted.

"Well yeah, a little bit. My grandfather was teaching me but I haven't had any lessons for a couple of years now." Heero kept tight-lipped about the reason why he didn't have lessons anymore.

Duo just looked awe-struck. The closest he had got to learning a foreign language was the little bit of French he'd been taught in school. "Cool." He managed the one-syllable word in the end and then looked at his watch. "Shoot! It's half past four! We're gonna have to really cycle hard or mum will throw one of her wobblies. Where has the time gone?" He said in a slightly panicked tone.

Heero doubted that Rosie's 'wobblies' were anything as bad as what his parents could dish out but he pulled himself to his feet and dragged the bicycle off the floor. Both boys mounted them and took off in the direction they had come from.

They made it back to Seaview farm at bang on 5pm and Duo let out a loud whoop at their punctuality. Rosie was in the kitchen when they entered the house. "Glad to see you made it back on time." She said in a cheery voice that suggested she was just feigning strictness. Heero raised an eyebrow slightly at this but kept his thoughts completely to himself, uttering a hello to the farmer's wife.

Both boys washed their hands and helped Rosie finish preparing the rest of dinner, Duo excitably telling her about how their day went. Heero even made his own little inputs to the conversation as they set up the table, making Rosie smile happily. 'He's finally opening up a bit. I knew this day out with Duo would be good for him.'

They were soon sat round the table, Joe having joined them from where he'd been out in the field all day. They ate dinner with the normal happy chatter going round; Heero again joining in here and there. Rosie and Joe exchanged glances, both smiling at the fact that the new addition to the household was starting to fit in better now.

After dinner the boys followed Joe outside to help check on the animals one more time before they locked up the farm for the night. The sun was setting, which cast a heavenly red glow over the sky, and both Heero and Duo were staring up at the sky, either boy's bright eyes doused in the colour. "It's beautiful." Heero said in a low voice which was only just louder than a whisper. He hadn't really ever looked at the sun when it was setting before. He was usually too busy cram studying, with his father's watchful eye on him. Duo let out a contented sigh in agreement.

Once they'd locked up the farm, the boys told Rosie and Joe they were tired and would take an early night. The adults raised their eyebrows slightly but bade them both goodnight. They trundled up the stairs, tired out from their busy day. Heero could feel his muscles starting to throb again and decided a goodnight's sleep was definitely what he needed.

Duo pulled the black-out off the floor and hooked it up to the window. He then, rather blindly groped for the gas lamp and lit it. Heero was already half-way through getting changed by the time light filled the room. "How'd you manage to do that in the dark?" Duo asked. "You weren't very successful last time." He added, remembering how Heero had stubbed his toe on the bed while trying to dress in the dark before.

Heero scowled at him but, once he'd pulled his pyjama top on, answered him. "I pride myself on learning from my mistakes." He said, only half joking.

Duo chuckled. "Well that's good to know, I guess." He said with a grin, before sorting about changing into his own pyjamas.

Eventually both boys were changed and were snuggled up under their respective duvets in their beds. Duo lay on his side facing Heero's bed and Heero lay on his side facing Duo's. "Night Heero." Duo said, knowing that he would get an answer this evening.

"Night Duo." Heero replied in a sleepy voice, his eyes already closing as sleep started to claim him.

Duo lay awake for a few minutes, watching the other boy in sleep. 'I can't believe I've finally got him to be friends. I just know this is gonna be a good thing.' He thought, a content smile creeping onto his lips. He watched Heero for a bit longer and then gradually his own eyes closed and he fell, happily, into the folds of sleep.

End Chapter.

Phew! Another chapter finished. Time to take some time to reply to all my lovely reviewers. Lol.

**Holly – **Thankies Holly. I sure did take my time didn't I. Lol. I can't really give you any hints on the scar yet cos um…even I don't know as yet ;; I hope you find this chapter to be fun as well. Lol.

**Chibi-libra810 – **Chibz!! Your reviews have such…depth to them XD (j/k) I wub you really. crawls Thanks for your review. Hope you enjoy the chappie.

**Hikaruchi – **Hey Hikaru! grins I'm glad you like my fanficcy. I think Duo is even more adorable in this chap, lol. Yes Wu and Quat shall be making appearances but the fic is centred on Heero and Duo. Lol. Thankies for your review

**Nanshisummer – **Thankies for your review.

**Amara – **Thank you for your kind words (white collar lingu or no. Lol.) Sorry I didn't update sooner. Been busy busy. Will try harder next time. Lol.

**Mysticheero – **Yeah I suppose Heero and Duo as five year olds would be cute but it wouldn't work in this fic. Lol. Thankies for your review and um…here's the honey ;

**Purple Uranium – **Thankies for your kind concerns about my health. I'm pretty good now, just a sore throat. Lol. In answer to your question about the shelter, the dirt was put on as a sort of camouflage I think and they wouldn't cover up the door. Lol. I shall find a link to a picture for you in time for the next chapter. More shall come out about Heero's dad and relationships shall be built on. Have no fear. Lol. Thanks for your review!

**CuriousDreamWeaver – **Thankies! I tried quite hard with Trowa's character. I didn't find it easy to write unlike Heero and Duo. Glad you thought it was good. Thanks for your review!

**Meanne77-2x1 – **Hey, thanks for your review. I do so like it when my beta-reader promotes my fic. Lol. I think they're quite cute in this chapter too and have no fear, I have no plans to grown-upify them really quickly. Hehe.

**Gundam06serenity – **An even longer chapter this time. Lol.Thanks for your review.

**Mara202 – **Hiya! Thanks for the review and your compliment to my portrayal. Lol.

**Mariana1 - **takes the cyber cookies and home movies Very much appreciated I'm glad you're enjoying the fic so far. Don't worry Heero and Duo's relationship gets better. Lol.

**Pia Bartolini – **Don't get too used to the light-heartedness points to the angst theme Lol. Thanks for your review. I do pride myself on my History stuffage. Lol.

**D.A – **Yes the book is a definite must read and the film they made for it was pretty good too. Thank you for your review. Here's the update.

**Phoenix halfbreed – **Hehe. Thanks for the review. You should have received that email. Lol. The truth behind the scar will be revealed eventually.

Phew! Lots of reviewers. Lol. Keep them coming minna-san. I really appreciate the feedback. hugs I'll try and get the next chap out as soon as possible but I can't say when exactly because of the exams. Gah! As a little teaser I can tell you that chapter 6 will be a sort of transition chapter, also includes the first day at school. Hehe.

Alana


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